Cliffhangers/Text
Year Two, Day One "It sounds like Zinnia found some coats, if bios want extra warmth," said Hal. Brom gasped. "Alright, Ms. TARDIS, I'm sorry, but I have to say this--you are just a big meanie. I can understand having a bad day, but not this." There are muffled noises from beneath the coat pile. They sound vexed. Ellie started to get extremely nervous. "Brom, been thinking about it, and maybe mouthing off at the quasi-omnipotent space-time event isn't the best idea." "I'm sorry Ellie, but I can't just be quiet when something so mean happens to one of my friends. If the TARDIS lady wants to beat me up for it, so be it!" Brom said. "I used to bunk with a Type 103 once, and I really wish beating me up was all she used to do," said Ellie. A shuddering hand bursts its way out of the coat pile. Wild-eyed Zinnia claws her way fully out. "If it weren't for the difficulty breathing, that may actually have been a nice place to nap," said Zinnia. "I don't think asking the ship for a snorkel would be a good idea," Hal said. Ellie's shadow stalked off while its mistress was distracted towards the coat room, and started helping Zinnia pull coats off herself. The shade started sorting through the coats, trying to select one in Ellie's size, and one in Brom's. Having found some, it dragged them out of the room, leaving Zinnia behind. The shadow put the coat on it's mistress's shoulders, which caused her to jump. "Don't scare me like that!" Brom huffed and reluctantly accepted the coat from Ellie's shadow. "Ellie's shadow helped me out... somehow," Zinnia called out. "Wait what?" Ellie asked. "Wait, shouldn't you know?" replied Zinnia. "Do you need any help getting back Zinnia?" Ellie evaded. "Do you need help getting the rest of the way out, Zinnia?" Hal asked as well. "Because we're otherwise ready to possibly march to our deaths. I include myself in that because the chances of finding charge ports out there do not seem good." "No, I shall traverse mount coat by myself and make my way over there." Within a few minutes Zinnia had joined the others. "So time to march to our deaths then." "It won't be that bad, will it?" Brom asked. "Only one way to find out," Hal replied. Ellie quickly headed out of the door before something horrible could happen. The rest of the companions followed. They would find their legs lodged into at least half a foot of snow, ultimately connecting with rough, rigid rock at the bottom. The TARDIS had somehow managed to set itself atop the slush, and the light that shone out the door only seemed to illuminate the fog, mocking their lack of visibility. Brom wished from the depths of xyr hear that xe could shoot lasers from xyr eyes as xe glared back at the TARDIS. "So we should probably start looking for friendlier shelter," Hal said. Of course, looking was easier said than done, with only a few inches visible out in front of them. Zinnia used the sonic to see if she could detect anything: communication signals, signs of technology, anything besides miles of snow. A signal briefly buzzed inside her brain: "Day 14,032. Still no sign of life. Beginning to think surveillance location was poorly chosen. Heard odd groaning sound a minute ago, possibly due to deterioration of the landscape." "Um... I think I just picked up someone's journal," Zinnia informed the others, and repeated the sonic's message back to them. Hal's sensor complement wasn't much better than most humanoid bios. Ey'd been augmented with extended-spectrum visual gear a few times in the lab, but it wasn't standard. "Zinnia! Don't read other people's journals! It's an invasion of privacy," Brom protested. "Which direction would you say that's coming from?" Ellie asked. "I'm not sure..." She tried to get a direction from the sonic. "Down," the sonic responded. "Under us?" Zinnia asked. "That's what I said," the sonic replied. Ellie growled. "Again with the landing above where we need to be. Next time it'll be in a statue of one us throwing a cup. "EXTERMINATE!" she shouted as she suddenly shot at a random part of the snow in front of her and the others. Hal didn't say anything, very loudly. "EXTERMINATE" Ellie shouted, as she started shooting at the frigid rock, trying to blast her way down. The ground could be heard to crack beneath them. "EX! TER! MIN! ATE!" Ellie screamed as she shot the ground one more time at the highest setting available to her. The ground trembled. Fractures could be seen cropping up in the snow. A loud crushing noise could be heard. And behind them, a piece of the cliff face they were on broke off, and the TARDIS began to tumble downwards, beyond any potential line of sight, into a deep and omnipresent mist. "Good riddance!" Ellie shouted after it. Having rid the companions of their transport, however, the ground was not to randomly stop breaking. Still more fractures appeared, developing ominously around Hal's feet. "Oh no," said Zinnia. "Um," Brom remarked. Hal stepped lively. "Moving would be preferable." "Come on, if you think you're hard enough!" Ellie yelled at the cliff, readying another shot against all common sense and better judgement. Zinnia fled in a direction that looked less crumbly. The ground wasn't about to just take that! Well, actually, it was, because the ground wasn't sentient. But the laws of physics were more than happy to create the appearance that the ground was trying to spite Ellie, and so continued dividing at a rapid and not exactly text-friendly pace. "Ellie you should, uh... stop that!" Brom warned. "Exterminate." Ellie shot the ground once more and grabbed Brom by the hand, running away from the cliff edge. Of course, there wasn't much space in which to run, Ellie having created a giant fault right beneath them. The two also began plummeting, leaving Zinnia and Hal behind as they tumbled into what seemed like infinite space, chunks of rock tumbling after. Ellie shot at the rocks. "I don't think the rocks like when you do that!" Brom yelled. * * * Hal and Zinnia watched from the safety of relatively more firm ground as their friends tumbled through the air. "So... there go our friends and our ride off this snowball..." Zinnia said. "How are you with flying?" Hal asked. "Unless there was a significant upward gust, I'm more of someone that falls with style," Zinnia said. "And sort of glides." "Falling with style and gliding are better than falling like stone," said Hal. "True," agreed Zinnia. "We could go down after them somewhat safely," Hal suggested. "Marginally better than freezing to death up here..." Zinnia carefully walked over to the edge to peer over. She could not see all the way down, but one suspected were one to drop a penny over the ledge one would have to stick around a rather long time to hear the satisfying clang of copper against rock when it hit the bottom. Hal unslung the projector pack from eir simulated shoulders. "I don't know what would be most comfortable for you." "Um, what?" Zinnia asked. "Are you not okay with carrying me down? I thought I'd switch off my projection and we'd go down together," Hal said. "Oh. Ohhh." Zinnia laughs nervously. "Okay, lets do this then. If we can fasten, uh, you around my waist so you don't interfere with my arm movement." Hal handed eirself to Zinnia. Zinnia fastened Hal around her waist and peered over the cliff again. She tested the wind to make sure it wasn't blowing toward the cliff face. Whispering "oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no" she jumped off. Unfortunately, it was in fact blowing towards the cliff face, and quickly swooped her back onto solid ground. "I shall take this as a sign," Zinnia said. "And now to curl up in the snow and weep." The tears froze to her face but she didn't notice. The wind whipped at her curled-up body and, with growing strength, slowly slid her back across the snow and away from the edge of the cliff. "That is some pointed wind right there," Hal said. "I'm not having a good day" Zinnia muttered. "The inexplicable forces of nature keep reminding me that it could be worse." Zinnia finished her quiet little freakout and got back up. "So the winds are too fickle to glide down. Do we have a plan C?" "Look for another way down and/or shelter up here?" Hal suggested. Year Two, Day Two "Alright, lets walk along the cliff and see if there's a way down. If that doesn't pan out, I guess we can build a shelter out of snow," said Zinnia. "Because that is the only available material." "The only evidence you got of anyone else here is way down there, right?" Hal asked. "Somewhere under us, or under us before we had to flee the crumbling cliff catastrophe," Zinnia said. "Then I guess we follow the cliff," said Hal. Fortunately, the cliff face was pretty wide, and expanded as far as they could see to the left and right. Admittedly, however, this wasn't very far. "Ah," said Zinnia, realizing this. "So how do you think one constructs snow structures? Its all powdery." "Press very hard?" Hal suggested. "Hm." Zinnia arbitrarily chose the left and began following the cliff face. Hal followed, since they didn't need to split up any more than they already had. Fortunately, each step revealed one step still ahead to take, rather than suddenly dropping out into nothingness; the cliff face remained wide and spacious, making continuing falling less of a concern. At ten paces, she would be able to spot a grappling hook and rope dangling from the side. "Look, a grappling hook and rope dangling from the side!" Zinnia peered down to see if anyone was ascending the rope. They were not, at least as far down as she could see, which was a couple of feet. "Probably a dumb idea to try to climb down a rope in the middle of such crazy winds with no climbing gear. Although I guess we don't have many options." Zinnia grabbed the rope to rappel down. The rope was covered in frost, and not easily grabbed. Zinnia more slided than rappeled. "I suddenly and immediately rethink my decision." Zinnia turned to Hal. "Do you wanna build a snow shelter? It doesn't have to be a snow shelter. Although given that I hate freezing to death I'd prefer if it were a shelter." "Maybe you could slow your fall with your wings? As you slide down the rope?" Hal suggested. "I'm not sure I'd have a solid grip without my hands," said Zinnia. "I was picturing having your wings out to the sides as you held on to the rope." Hal demonstrated a position with elbows way out and hands around a nonexistent rope. "Lets...put a pin in that. And look around some more. And maybe take the grappel and rope." Zinnia tugged lightly on the rope to see if there was any weight on it. The rope wouldn't even allow her that much traction. "Yeah, I'm not suspending myself from this thing. Nope nope nope nope nope. Nnnnnope." "Best find something you are comfortable with, then," said Hal. "How are you doing with the cold right now?" "Fine enough for now." Zinnia continued exploring along the cliff. Another twenty pages and they'd see a dark opening in the rock, leading into the mountain. "Look, a dark opening in the rock that appears to lead into the mountain!" Zinnia said. "Why, this might be the source of the signal I detected possibly." "Certainly worth investigating, regardless. A cave would be warmer than out here," said Hal. "Yeah." Zinnia headed towards the cave The wind was far lighter inside, but visibility was worse by a significant margin. "I wonder if the sonic can be used as a flashlight?" Zinnia tried it. It could be, though the top was small so while it did illuminate the inside of the cave it did so for a very small area. "Any ideas, Hal?" "I am technically a light source," said Hal. "But I'm afraid neither of us has the technical skills to reconfigure my projection." "Drat. If only I had echolocation or cat eyes or an actual flashlight, like all the cool kids back in university." Zinnia continued trying to cautiously progress via the teeny light of the sonic. The ground gradually slopped downwards, the snow dissipating as Zinnia and Hal walked along. A pair of tiny lights could be seen in the distance. "Hello?" Hal asked. "Sᴜʀᴠᴇʀʏ ʏᴛ ᴏɴ ᴀ ғʀ...ʀᴘʀʀᴛ...ʀᴇʀʀᴛ..." came a metallic voice from the distance. One of the lights flickered out. * * * Brom looked around for a ledge, or branch, or large bird to hang onto. There was a ledge a few feet below, and slightly to the right of where Brom and Ellie were falling. It was a pretty spacious looking one, too. Brom yelled at Ellie, "Ellie! Follow me!" while trying to aim xyrself at the ledge. Brom tried to sort of... swim through the air, making sure to keep xyr head above the rest of xyr body. Having his pecs and arms land on the cliff was pretty painful. It left a bruise, at best. Fortunately, the snow slowed him some, giving out beneath him. Unfortunately, it was also causing him to start sliding, and moreover, Ellie was still tumbling not far behind... "Grandfather watch us. Spirits have pity." Ellie chanted, as one performing their own last rites. Ellie's shadow was cast on the ledge for a moment, which the shade took advantage of to grab hold of the ledge, swinging Ellie herself against the side of the cliff below the ledge. Her arm was between her body and the cliff face. Fortunately for Ellie's face, but not very fortunately for her arm. This was also not unpainful, especially with the sheer rock; Ellie gained a gash on her cheek and her arm popped out of place. She hissed from the pain. Brom's legs, and gradually more of him, would become visible to her left. Brom groaned. Xe didn't really enjoy the pain xe was currently experiencing. Xe shook xyrself out of the fog of pain and grabbed at the snow, trying to find some sort of handhold underneath it. Xyr hand would hit upon a jagged protrusion beneath the snow. Xe held onto the potrusion as tightly as xe could, and looked around for where Ellie had landed. Ellie was dangling to xyr left by the same cliff face. That the surface was slippery did not seem to bother her shadow. "Ellie! Are you alright?" Brom called. Ellie tried to answer but all that came out of her mouth was a pained whine. "Hold on, Ellie!" Brom gripped the rock xe was holding and tried to pull xyrself to a steady standing position. It would be difficult, but not impossible. Eventually xe would manage to pull his entire body up onto the cliff. Brom steadied xyrself and quickly moved to the part of the ledge Ellie was dangling from. Xe grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up. Ellie screamed, her shadow worked with Brom to hoist her up onto the ledge. It took some doing but eventually she made it up. She had tears running down her face, but tried to keep her voice calm as she said "Hey, Brom? You wouldn't happen to know how to pop an arm back into place, would you?" "Um...you can't just shove it back into your...arm hole can you?" Brom asked. "I unfortunately only have one other hand, and not a lot of leverage." Ellie replied. "Do... you want me to try?" asked Brom. "Please." Ellie's shadow snapped off a trig from a branch and put it in her mouth to bite down on. "All right...I'm sorry if I mess this up." Brom tried to recall any memory xe had of the village's doctor resetting the arms of injured knights, and began slowly pulling Ellie's dislocated arm. Ellie bit down on the twig and fought the urge to scream, as her muscles stretched and burned and her bones tried to find their joints. Brom winced and let go of Ellie's arm as soon as it felt like it was where it needed to be. Xe awkwardly patted Ellie's shoulder in comisseration. Ellie let the stick drop out of her mouth. "Thanks," she breathed. Her shadow started gathering snow and packed it around the injury. Year Two, Day Three Ellie slumped some more against the cliffside. "Well, I don't know how we're going to get out of this. Sorry I got you into it." "Hey, don't be like that. There has to be some way out of here, right?" Brom asked. "There always is." "I could try shooting things again." Ellie's shadow stopped packing snow at this. "That didn't really work last time," said Brom. Ellie sighed, then frowned. "Wait." Ellie extended her eyestalk. "Maybe I could scan for faultlines or frequency sources, and either find better targets to shoot, or where that signal Zinnia found is coming from." "Uh... yeah! Do that!" Brom said. There were really no fault lines that would be of use to shoot at, as there was little on the way down to prevent them from gruesome splattery deaths. The location of the frequency could, however, be found--300 feet to their right and 800 feet down. "So, the frequency is below us and to our right, but I don't think I'm in any shape for mountain climbing right now," said Ellie. "I could carry you. Probably. I'm all...big and strong and stuff," Brom said. "I'm not sure I'd be able to hang on to you," said Ellie. "Not without getting in your way." "I can't leave you here. There might be monsters, or animals, or snowmen around that'll try to eat you," Brom protested. "I've dealt with cannibalistic snowmen before. Their boss is a loser. I'll be fine," said Ellie. Brom stared at Ellie for a little bit, then sighed. "All right. But if me, Hal and Zinnia get back here and you're dead I'll...I'll...poke you!" Ellie grinned. "I'll hold you to that." Brom gave Ellie one last look before walking over to the cliff's edge and beginning to descend. The mountainside offered many helpful protrusions for xyr to grab onto, though the rock itself was hard and slippery from the cold. Ellie sighed. "Wonder how long it'll take my nanogenes to fix my arm." Ellie's shadow grabbed the undersides of edges on the cliff side as best it could, and, after some hesitation, started to descend, pulling its mistress after it. "Wait what are you doi--AHHHH!" * * * Zinnia continued trying to cautiously progress via the teeny light of the sonic. The ground gradually slopped downwards, the snow dissipating as Zinnia and Hal walked along. A pair of tiny lights could be seen in the distance. "Hello?" Hal asked. "Sᴜʀᴠᴇʀʏ ʏᴛ ᴏɴ ᴀ ғʀ...ʀᴘʀʀᴛ...ʀᴇʀʀᴛ..." came a metallic voice from the distance. One of the lights flickered out. "Hello? Are you some kind of probe droid?" Zinnia considered. "If you're hostile, I'm just a malfunction in your auditory sensor things." "We are friendly malfunctions," Hal clarified. "Mᴀʟғɴᴄᴛɴ...ɴᴏᴛ ᴘssssssʙʟᴇ...Iᴍ ɪɴ ᴘʀғᴄᴛ ᴡʀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏʀᴅᴏʀᴅᴏʀᴅᴏʀᴅ...." the machine insisted, as it's other light went out in a flurry of sparks. The syllable "ᴏʀᴅ" continued to leave what one could presume was the robot's mouth for longer than could strictly be considered healthy, and at increasing speeds. "We might want to back up," Zinnia whispered. "That's the kind of thing that prefaces an explosion some of the times" A mechanical whirr could be heard as a series of footsteps began coming in Zinnia and Hal's direction."Eʀ...ɢᴏᴏᴏᴅ...Sᴜʀᴠᴇʏ ʏᴛ ɢᴏᴏᴅ...ɴʟʏ ᴀ ғʟsʜ ᴡɴɴɴᴅ..." it continued. A large mass toppled over and hit the ground in front of their feet. Zinnia played the nearly better than nothing light of the sonic over the thing. A large mass of brown fur could be seen. "Weird. It sounded so mechanical. But it looks so hairy. Robots aren't generally hairy are they?" Zinnia asked. "Cyborg? Or camouflage?" Hal suggested. The robot began to spasm slightly. "What are you?" Zinnia wondered out loud. And then wondered through the sonic by scanning the thing. The sonic informed her that it was a form of robot known as a yeti, 514 years old. Zinnia conveyed this information to Hal. "This thing is super old," she added, probably unnecessarily. "Age doesn't mean much with mechanisms, with good maintenance, which obviously isn't the case here. I may have been in operation for years or decades before joining the Doctor. I just can't recall more than a few weeks," said Hal. "You have a point," said Zinnia. "Hm, wonder what this thing was surveying." "Ice?" Hal asked. Zinnia paused. "That is what seems to be around." She tried to see if she could get anything else with the sonic, access its records and such. The sonic pulled up something like a hundred different files, each timestamped to sometime in 2448 or 2449. Hal tapped the yeti with eir foot to make sure it had shut down. The yeti failed to react to being tapped with Hal's foot. Zinnia accessed a file at random. Vivid images appeared in her brain of what was presumably the Yeti's perspective of traversing a mountain pass. Text appeared at the bottom left, registering and cataloging geological formations, plants and microorganisms. A timecode in the bottom right informed Zinnia that the film was 94 hours, 32 minutes, and 8 seconds long. "Um, wow. This guy was surveying for a while. Plants even. Plants!" "Sounds gripping," Hal replied. "Maybe I'm just paranoid or...reaching for significance but I feel this guy is related to why the new TARDIS ditched us here," Zinnia said. "Maybe she expected it to kill us if the cold didn't?" asked Hal. "The most recent file may be helpful in case what happened to this yeti is more than just age." Zinnnia agreed and tried to access the most recent file. She succeeded. It was 120 hours, 23 minutes, and 10 seconds--and counting. Going to the end of the file meant Zinnia literally looking at herself for a brief few moments before the Yeti hit the ground. It had cataloged some rudimentary biological data on her. "I'm apparently 'mostly harmless', for what that's worth," she said. "Good thing it didn't scan Ellie," Hal remarked. "So where does this leave us? We have a broken yeti robot, a blizzard outside and still no way down to look for our missing cohorts," said Zinnia. "Wait, so it's hundreds of years old, all of its data is from the last two years, and it seems to have collapsed of neglect?" Hal asked. "There has to be something useful somewhere in there, if we had any way to find it. If we don't, it may be further into the cave." "I wonder if we could somehow craft a light source from the thing. The sonic isn't a great one," Zinnia suggested. "Those eye-lights weren't much better," said Hal. "True. Let's keep exploring, then," Zinnia stepped around the yeti to get deeper into the cave. She would hear a metallic thud as her foot hit what she had assumed was ground. "Uh. " She shined the light from the sonic down where her foot had hit. It was a patch of fur, similar to the one on the Yeti that had just fallen over. The silhouette around the patch suggested it was still attatched to said Yeti. "Uhhh," she said. * * * After a good half an hour of tedious mountain-climbing hijinks, they would arrive on a ledge, leading into a cave. Brom hesitantly approached the mouth of the cave, not noticing Ellie or her shadow. * * * "It's like a hairy robot graveyard..." Zinnia said. Year Two, Day Four The hairy robots in the hairy robot graveyard did not react to this description, because the "graveyard" bit was especially apt, and moreover none of them were zombies or anything of the sort. They lied in place, blank-eyed, scooting occasionally if Zinnia's leg hit them hard enough. If she had thought of it, Zinnia would be relieved they didn't react. Robot zombies are a bridge too far. Hal navigated the array of dead robots as best as could be expected with the limited light. Which was not much better than Zinnia. As they trudged through the stack of decayed robots, they would see another figure, far further back in the cave, with the same glowing lights, approaching slowly. "Hello? Are you another robot yeti? Maybe a more coherent one?" Hal asked. "WHA? SOMEONE DOWN THERE?" came the reply. The figure was quite far away. "WE MIGHT BE WEIRD ECHOES," said Hal. "DEPENDS WHO'S ASKING." "MARIA GUERREZ! AND YOU ARE?" came the voice again. There was a third light now, a tiny red one, about halfway between the headlights and the ground. "Zinnia and Hal," said Zinnia. "ZINNIA AND HAL," she added louder, realizing she whispered the first time. "I DON'T KNOW A ZINNIA ANDHAL! YOU GUYS ARE...UM..." There was a flurry of coughs. "UNLESS EITHER 'A YOU GOT A GLASS O' WATER, I'M GONNA PUT THIS CONVERSATION ON HOLD!" Zinnia patted her pockets. "THERE'S SNOW OUTSIDE? YOU COULD PROBABLY EAT THAT?" "IT'S ALL COURSE, THOUGH, SO--Y'KNOW WHAT, HANG ON." Maria began sprinting towards them. This took some time. "So should we be alarmed that a mysterious coughing person is sprinting toward us?" Zinnia asked. "I vote... no?" "Coughing is generally not a sign of physical prowess. She might be contagious, but I'm not a bio, and you might be biologically different enough to not catch it. But it would probably be polite to meet her in the middle," said Hal. "Especially since she seems to be having difficulty." Zinnia agreed and began moving toward the middle. As they approached, they could make out a large woman in a navy blue jumpsuit, wearing over it a large black parka. On her face were a pair of goggles, their lenses perfectly round, creating quite a deal of illumination. She flipped them back on top of her head and extended a hand. "Hey there. So, who're you two and what're you doing up in this mountain?" "Our transportation decided she wanted us to get off here, possibly to meet our doom," said Hal. "So you know, the usual. Also we're looking for some friends that fell off a cliff, possibly to the delight of said transport." Maria cocked an eyebrow at all this. "I'd say you two are probably, I dunno, dehydrated or sick or something, but one of you is clearly a 4-foot-high bird, so, um, maybe the problem is on my end." She scratched the back of her neck. "I think I get the gist, though. You two are stranded?" "Basically. Our ship fell off the same cliff, but she may not want us back even if we found her," said Hal. "Yeah, I'm a holo. Weird, I know." "Right then. Any idea where this cliff was? How steep a fall? How long have you been here? Hell, how did you GET here? And why is one of you a--" Maria stopped. "I'm sorry. I'm being rude. You guys want some cocoa or something?" "I would like some, thanks," said Zinnia. "Yeah, I'm a holo. Outside of a lab. Weird, I know," said Hal, seemingly determined to be the weird one of the two. This also seemed to get Maria's attention. "Holo? As in 'hologram'?" The look of confusion gently wafted away from her face. "You guys are, like, SERIOUSLY not from around here, are you. Like." She pointed skywards. "Yeah, we're from space," said Zinnia. "It's a loooong story but we're not locals." "The cliff was a few visibility ranges back the way we came," said Hal. "Wow. Neato. So can you, like, digest cocoa? I'm not going to kill you or something if I try to feed you, right?" asked Maria. "I don't really eat, but a friend…" Hal trailed off. "Oh, you weren't talking to me." "I digest cocoa. I take a supplement that lets me digest most forms of earth nutrients. I wouldn't try it with a kilrathi though," Zinnia said. "Well alright then! Why don't you guys follow me and we'll sit down and discuss things, and I'll try not to ramble like some kind of maniac." Maria turned and motioned for them to join her as she headed back down the path. Join her Zinnia did do. Follow onward was an action Hal committed. The narrator sighed and mourned the English language. * * * The cave was decently well-lit, comparatively, with a row of Christmas lights strung up along its walls, some of which were flickering badly, others of which were cracked, revealing the extremely bright contents usually masked by colored glass. The ground was smooth, mostly, with some slight texturing. "Ow." Ellie groaned as she sunk against one of the walls. Brom turned around, shocked to hear Ellie's voice "Hey! I thought you were staying up there? You didn't want me to carry you! Is it...do I stink or something?" Ellie was in too much pain to hear him, and glared at her shadow. "Why don't you warn me when you're going to do that?" "Oh. Okay, I get it now. Uh... when your done, we should probably look inside this cave and stuff." Brom considered this. "Do you... uh... need some help Ellie?" Ellie glanced up, her head swaying slightly. "That depends, are there actually two of you right now?" Brom glanced around "I don't think so." "Okay. Good. Could I like, lean on you with my good arm? In case I pass out?" Elie asked. "Yeah! I mean...if I'm stinky you might not want to, but you never said if I was or not, so it's probably okay," said Brom. "I've smelled worse," Ellie said. "Well, alright then. Come on." Brom waited for Ellie to lean against xyr and entered deeper into the cave. Ellie's shadow fashioned her jacket into a sling, which she propped her right arm in while she wrapped her left around Brom's. The cave continued to be well-lit for some distance, though gradually, more and more of the Christmas lights were out or heavily damaged, and the ground got bumpier and bumpier. Eventually, if they continued moving forward, they would find themselves engulfed almost entirely in darkness. "Uh-oh. It's starting to get dark. Do you have a candle or something?" Brom asked. Ellie's eyestalk extended and she activated its nightvision mode. The tunnel continued for a few more feet, at which point it split in three different directions. "Three paths up ahead." Ellie commented. "Do...you have a three-sided coin?" asked Brom. Ellie thought about the question. "I'm going to need to mention that to the treasury when I get home. But no, sadly." "Well shoot." Brom stared at each path in turn, trying to see if there was anything hinting at which way was the correct one. None of them were encouraging on the light situation, nor on the terrain. In fact, the one on the far left seemed to have a distinct upwards incline. The ones to the middle and right were mostly indistinguishable, save for a flickering green light from the latter--at least one bulb in there was faintly operational. "There's a light in the right path. That's a good sign...right?" Brom asked. "Let's take it," said Ellie. "Right!" Brom steered Ellie in said direction and proceeded down the single-light path. It didn't take long for it to become apparent that the green light was, in fact, the only one still on, and that the rest of the cave was darkness. Brom continued on, despite the darkness. A light, faint, tapping noise could be heard in the distance. * * * It took a bit, but eventually Maria, Zinnia, and Hal entered a large alcove, filled with computer banks and milk carts of filing cabinets and also a small round table with a pot of cocoa on it and some cups marked "BIODEGRADABLE" in large friendly letters. At the table was an old man, looking at something on a tablet. "Nother one of them robots broke down," he remarked, without looking up. "I think we saw it do that. Do you just throw all the malfunctioning ones in that cave, or do they go there to die on their own?" Hal asked. The old man shrugged. "I think...when one malfunctions, it sends a message to the system, which alerts another one for help. And it encounters whatever's broken it. And then it sends a message." He glanced up from the tablet. "Oh, Maria dear, hi. These your friends?" Maria nodded eagerly. "They're from space!" "Lovely. I'll put the pot on." He leaned over and flicked a switch on the pot. "That's Micah. He's my assistant." Micah nodded solemnly. "We're here researching the ecosystem," she continued. "The planet's just been...well, we don't like to use the word 'discovered'. To be on the safe side. But we only located it for the first time recently." "Do blizzard hells have much of an ecosystem?" Zinnia asked. Maria shrugged. "I mean, we've got polar bears and things back home. No reason why it shouldn't be the same here." "It wouldn't be blizzardly everywhere," Hal pointed out. "Fair enough," said Zinnia. "You do seem to have picked the worst place to set up camp for a planet-wide ecosystem study," said Hal. "Short of an active volcano." "Oh, well, that was very much deliberate," said Maria. "She likes to see how things survive in extreme conditions," muttered Micah. "I'm rapidly becoming of the opinion that they don't. I'm certainly not." "So!" Said Maria. "You guys pick this as a vacation spot or something, and your ship got pissed at you? What happened?" "Our ship decided to stop here and made it clear we were to get out," said Hal. "And then fell off a cliff with a couple of our friends." "In fairness, the cliff collapsing wasn't entirely not our fault." Zinnia shrugged. "Right then. Well, at this altitude, I hate to say this, but your ship would have to be one hell of a thing to still be in one piece. And I'm not sure we've got another way out for you," said Maria. "Ships like that tend to be surprisingly durable. We just think it wants us dead. And we're more worried about our friends that fell with it," said Hal. "Hrm. Well, that I could help you with. Micah, how many robots we got left?" Maria asked. "Eh...twenty..." Micah paused, and blinked at the tablet. "Sixteen. And dropping fast." "Quick, check any of their feeds for--um--" Maria turned to Hal and Zinnia. "What do your friends look like?" "Both human, at least mostly," said Hal. "One's really big and the other might have a Dalek eyestalk coming out her forehead," said Hal. "Simple enough. Two other humans!" declared Maria. Micah began scrolling through something on the tablet. * * * "Um Ellie. Do you hear that?" Brom asked. "Yeah," said Ellie. The tapping noise continued, and graduated into scratching, slowly getting louder as they proceeded. "This...uh...there's a chance that noise isn't bad right?" Brom asked, contiuining down the path. Brom made sure to listen closely, in case there was a chance that noise was bad. "Hello there," said a soft voice coming from further down the path. "You two look like you could use assistance." "Um...hello. You're not a cave monster are you? I can't see very well!" Ellie's nightvision means she can see very well. If a little fuzzy and green. There's nothing to be seen, at least at first glance. "I wouldn't describe myself as a monster, no. Would you?" "I dunno. You seem kinda nice so far," said Brom. "Why thank you. Now then. Why don't you two tell me what's brought you to this cave?" "Our ride is a cow," said Ellie. "Yeah, our space box was being a big meanie and left us here," said Brom. "Or...more like...on top of here. Like, outside on the mountain, not in the cave." "Space box, eh? So you all are from space, then. Fascinating. Any planet in particular?" Its voice seemed to be drifting further back into the cave, however slightly. "I'm from a cannibalistic repeating timeloop that lasts roughly eleven days. Brom's from Earth." There's a pause in the conversation. "Earth. I know this place. There are people from it here, now." "Oh, really? Are they nice people?" Brom asked. "I'm afraid not." "We are!" said Ellie. "We are definitely nice people!" "How, exactly, are we defining nice?" "We definitely don't want to beat you up or anything," said Brom. "Nice: noun. One; pleasing; agreeable; delightful. Two; amiably pleasant; kind. Three: characterized by, showing, or requiring great accuracy, precision, skill, tact, care, or delicacy. Seven; refined in manners, language, etc. Eight; virtuous; respectable; decorous. And nine; suitable or proper," said Ellie. "Well, that is pleasant. Perhaps you can help me deal with some people who have conflicting desires." "Yes, definitely, most helpful people you could know," Ellie replied. "Phenominal. But first, perhaps, is there anything I could help you with?" "I broke my arm earlier. It's healing, but some pain killers would be good. And some water," said Ellie. "Also you haven't seen our friend have you?" asked Brom. "They're a bird and a hologram named Zinnia and Hal." "I may have seen your friends, actually. But first..." A series of loud cracking noises could be heard. Ellie's arm was fixed. "There. I'll admit I've not worked with a lot of humans but I think I got that right." Ellie fainted because there still weren't any painkillers. "Ah. Yes. Pain. I think she mentioned." Ellie would come to, slightly, with a feeling of relief. "I think I need rest now. But I can show you your friends, I think. They sound familiar. Your transport...what was it like?" "It's like a big blue box!" said Brom. In an instant, Brom and Ellie would receive a brief, glimmering image of Zinnia and Hal, sitting by the police box at the base of the mountain. It was faint, and washed-out, but it was there. "Yes...I must rest. Beware...there are other humans...and the trip down is treacherous." The voice faded out. "Well thank! I...guess we're leaving then. Ellie, are you okay?" Brom asked. "'M good." Ellie said as she shakily rose to her feet. "I think we're leaving the cave now," said Brom. Thundering footsteps could be heard coming up behind them. "Hᴏsᴛɪʟᴇs ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ. Rᴇǫᴜᴇsᴛɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ-ᴜᴘ. Bᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴘᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ғɪʀᴇ ɪғ ɴᴇᴄᴇssᴀʀʏ." "Um...we should run away from that." Brom grabbed Ellie's uninjured arm, and ran in the opposite direction of the footsteps. Ellie's shadow tried to keep it's gunstick pointed behind them whenever it could. The footsteps continued as a large, furry beast came up behind them. "Rᴇǫᴜᴇsᴛɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ-ᴜᴘ. Bᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴘᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ғɪʀᴇ ɪғ ɴᴇᴄᴇssᴀʀʏ," it repeated. It reached a claw towards Ellie's shoulder. Ellie's shadow reflexively fired at the claw. Its body went blue, and Ellie could see the machinery and wiring underneath before it toppled over dead. "DON'T WORRY 14! I'M COMING FOR YOU!" came a voice from in front of Brom and Ellie. A large figure's footsteps could be heard accompanying the voice. Two more voices, fainter now. "Maybe we should go ahead first?" "Calm down, don't shoot! We're coming for, like, everybody!" "Uh...should we keep running?" Brom asked. "Dammit why did you shoot him?" Ellie screamed at her shadow. * * * "Um, we found your friends. One of them's pointing a gun at #14," said Micah. "Aaand--feed just went. At least we have a location." "Great," said Maria. "Far from here?" Micah shook his head. "Preemptive sorry for our friend breaking your stuff," said Zinnia. "Just two lefts and a right," said Micah. "Right then." Maria got up and headed towards the door. "You two coming?" "Uh, we'd best. It would be best for her to see a familiar face," said Zinnia. "She might shoot you too otherwise," Hal said. "I take it she's a bit nervous? I mean, it'd be understandable." She was already on her way out. "I just hope #14's okay. At least they dropped somewhere we can reach them this time." They've made the first two lefts when the sound of a Dalek gunstick can be heard. Maria's eyes go wide. "Is that...er...what your friend's weapon sounds like?" "She's part-Dalek. Sounds like that side is winning right now," said Hal. "Well, let's hope she missed. DON'T WORRY 14! I'M COMING FOR YOU!" Maria began to sprint once more. "Maybe we should go out first?" Zinnia asked. "Ellie, calm down, don't shoot! We're coming for like everybody!" Hal set eir projector down in line of sight from the cave mouth to be on the safe side. * * * "Ellie, what happened? Other than you mowing down survey drones?" Hal asked. A large figure approached them, clad in a jumpsuit and parka, and looked down at the robot she had called #14. She winced, and pinched her nose. On her head were a pair of goggles emitting light from their lenses. "Alright then. No entry mark. That's...good. Means it's an electrical thing. Probably easily fixed." She found a nearby rock to sit on. "Hal? Zinnia? So...you guys aren't jerks trying to kill us?" Brom asked. "Did xenophobia happen here? Last we saw you, you were going full Dalek. You okay?" Hal continued out of the tunnel. "Are you done being shooty?" Ellie may have been able to notice Hal's projection was not wearing the projector pack Ellie did not, as she was a bit concerned about other matters. Namely, whether it was possible to divorce one's own shadow. "I thought I was." "Zinnia, I think it's safe out here, if you want to come out and join us," said Hal. "And bring the rest of me?" Zinnia came into the chamber. "What happened to you two?" "Oh. I'll go get me then." Hal went back for the protector. "I don't understand what's happening," Brom said. "To get our part of the story out of the way: we wandered around in the snow, found a cave, and drank some cocoa," said Zinnia. "We climbed down a mountain and met a nice person who told us you guys were at the TARDIS back there." Brom points back towards wherever the friendly cave person was in relation to xyr at this point. "I broke my arm once and had it fixed twice. Without painkillers at any point," said Ellie. "That sounds...awful," said Zinnia. "So were the yetibots menacing you, or did you just expect them to?" asked Hal. "Yetibots?" asked Ellie. "Well, it was running kinda fast and stuff..." Brom said. "Oh god not this ponce again," said Ellie. "That's what the Sonic told Zinnia they were," said Hal. "We met some scientists using them to study this planet." "Well no wonder I couldn't see or feel him. Goddammit I thought I wouldn't see Yoggy again," said Ellie. "They're called Yetis. They predated us, here," Maria chipped in, trying to figure out some way to haul the machine up and sling it over her shoulder. "Their creator abandoned them here a long time ago. They volunteered to help us." "Well...now I feel really bad. Ellie, tell your shadow I'm mad at them!" said Brom. Ellie sighed and glanced at the robot. "Yeah, I am too. Think we might have accidentally bumped into their creator. Bodiless, smarmy, Victorian, Great Old Unintelligence." "Wᴀsɴ'ᴛ ʜɪᴍ..." the robot muttered. "I ᴋɴᴏᴡ...ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ғᴇᴇʟs ʟɪᴋᴇ...ᴡᴀsɴ'ᴛ ʜɪᴍ...sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ...ғɢʜɢ..." Year Two, Day Five